1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the formation of new thin films and alloys prepared from orthocarborane and 1,4 diaminobenzene, and those films and their properties, as well as the devices that can be prepared with those thin materials.
2. Background of the Invention
Materials based on carborane icosahedra B10C2H12 are of broad interest in such areas as the fabrication of semiconducting boron carbides B10C2H12 for hydrogen absorption and storage,5 novel molecular architectures,5-9 all-boron carbide neutron detectors,10-17 biomedical applications,18 and recently, spintronics19 and molecular electronics.20 In many of these applications, the ability to systematically vary the valence electronic structure and properties of the material by doping21-26 or incorporation of other molecular species27 is of obvious interest.
The alloy polymers of the invention—true alloys rather than co-deposited materials or a doped film, find application in all of the above-described devices. The relevant disclosures of references 5-20, set forth at the end of the specification of this application, are incorporated herein—by reference, for the purposes of informing the reader of the level of skill in the art in the preparation of those devices. The application of these materials in a portable, high sensitivity, solid state neutron detector is exemplified herein, but the invention lies in the alloy polymer itself, the properties resulting therefrom and the devices that advantageously benefit from those properties.